Illustrator Needed to Faithfully Refine Existing Heritage Workwear Style Brand Illustration

Project Overview: We are looking for an experienced illustrator with expertise in vintage engraving, woodcut, linocut, or scratchboard illustration to faithfully redraw and professionally refine an existing logo concept into a high-quality, production-ready illustration. This is NOT a logo redesign or concept exploration. We already have a completed concept and composition. The goal is to transform our existing rough illustration into a polished, professional piece of artwork while preserving its established symbolism, layout, and overall visual identity. The final artwork will be used primarily for apparel branding and garment graphics, similar to premium heritage workwear and vintage clothing brands. Creative Direction & Artistic Style: Style: Traditional Woodcut / Linocut / Engraving / Etching / Scratchboard illustration. The artwork should feel hand-carved and intentionally illustrated—not digitally sterile. Color: Strictly black and white. No gradients. No gray washes. No soft digital shading. Technique: Use intentional hatching and cross-hatching to create depth, texture, and shadow. Utilize bold black shapes and negative space to produce a timeless engraved appearance. Overall Feel: Heritage Timeless Rugged Authentic Handcrafted The illustration should feature subtle, intentional irregularities that give it character rather than perfectly uniform digital lines. The final artwork should also feature strong outer contour lines, intentional variation in line weight, and fine engraved detail throughout the illustration so it remains crisp and readable when reproduced as a one-color screen print on apparel. Composition & Existing Design: We will provide our existing logo concept as the foundation for the project. The overall composition, symbolism, and placement of the major elements have already been established. We are looking for artistic refinement—not creative reinterpretation. Please preserve the existing structure while elevating the craftsmanship, line quality, engraving detail, and overall illustration. Subject Matter / Layout Elements: (The attached "Not Yet Home" artwork is provided ONLY as a style reference. It is NOT to be copied or recreated.) Our existing concept includes: The Cross; A central cross dynamically positioned as though it is ascending toward the sky. The Wings; Wings attached to or framing the cross. The Crown of Thorns floating above the top of the cross. The Tombstone positioned directly in front of the base of the cross. The Sky / Clouds; Clouds framing the upper portion of the illustration as the cross ascends. Deliverables Required: Fully editable Adobe Illustrator (.AI) EPS SVG High-resolution transparent PNG High-resolution JPEG Artwork must be fully scalable for apparel printing and manufacturing. Upon final payment, all intellectual property rights and exclusive commercial usage rights for the completed artwork will transfer to us. Revision Expectations: We expect approximately 2–3 revision rounds focused on refinement and polishing of the existing artwork rather than redesigning the composition. Transparency Requirements (AI Protection): To protect the originality of our brand and ensure we receive authentic handcrafted artwork, we require the following before any final milestone is released. 1. PROCESS TIMELAPSE REQUIRED If working digitally (Illustrator, Photoshop, Procreate, etc.), your final delivery must include a screen-recorded timelapse or process recording showing the artwork being created from sketch through completion. If working traditionally, high-quality progress photos or videos of your drawing process will be required. 2. CLEAN LAYERED SOURCE FILES Final vector files must contain clean, organized vector paths. Automatically generated vectors, image traces, auto-traced artwork, or flat AI-generated images converted into vectors will not be accepted. 3. ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATION We highly value artists who enjoy creating original illustrations by hand rather than relying on AI-assisted workflows or automated vectorization. Portfolios consisting primarily of AI-generated artwork or lacking evidence of original illustration work may not be considered. Application Requirements Please begin your application with the word: WOODCUT This lets us know you have read and agree to the project requirements. Please also include a link to your portfolio. Applications without examples of woodcut, linocut, engraving, etching, scratchboard, or similarly detailed high-contrast illustration work will not be considered.